Monster Instrument Cable, is it worth the money?

[Cloudsplitter]

Monster cables are the worst ever. Buy good cable from blue jeans cable. Nuff said

[fastlanestoner]

Steer clear of Monster. They are every bit the tyrants claimed to be by earlier posts, and their products are shoddy at best. Go with a reputable cable like Mogami and put an end to completely unjust business practices.

[nrvana8775]

I really like Bill Lawrence cables for guitar.

I do fender on fender stuff, and I always found monster to not be good, george l to have a barky-midrange to to it, mogami to be a bit dark, etc. The Bill Lawrence cables seem really snappy, envelope-wise. A bit more definition in the low end, and the high end isn't shrill at all. It's a pleasant rounded-thing.

I'm sure there are some frequency charts that could show what cables do.

[TRJanuary]

Originally Posted by nrvana8775

I really like Bill Lawrence cables for guitar.

I have some rare Lawrence 2500......on my Turntable !! Nice low capacitance coax.

[waveform:blue]

I didn't know about their thuggish business practices before this thread. Kudos to those who brought it up. I've never thought of purchasing their overpriced products, anyway. There's no way I'm going to pay more for cables than I did for the gear.

I like GLS cables. My keyboards, sound modules, effects, 12-channel mixer, CD player, and receiver/amplifier are all connected through them.

Orange County Speaker sells them on Amazon. 30 bucks US will get you a multi-coloured six pack of 2-meter 1/4 to 1/4 mono cables. Of course they've plenty of other kinds. GLS use good quality metal ends that can be unscrewed if anything breaks. The solder and dressing are done well. The cable itself has a "pro" feel to it - beefy but not at all stiff.

The 1/4 to RCA mono cables are of likewise good quality; the RCA end is also metal and fits very snugly on a jack.

I've had no issues with these cables other than a tendency for the metal connector shells to unscrew on their own. A little Loc-Tite fixed that. Otherwise, the only beef I have with GLS is that they are made in China. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do to fix that.

[The Real MC]

Originally Posted by Frank_Case

Unlike microphone cables, instrument cables are high impedance cables which are more subject to high frequency roll-off due to the capacitance of the cable.

Wrong.

The impedance of the source is the dominant factor in high frequency roll-off.

Guitar pickups are high impedance thus the RC product of source impedance and the capacitance per foot rating of the cable limits cable length to 15 feet or less. Longer than that and the RC product forms a lowpass filter which loses high frequencies.

Microphones are almost 1/100 the impedance of guitar pickups. Put a mic on the same cable and you can run much longer length cables before RC product becomes a problem.

Instrument and mic cables are the same with the exception of number of conductors.

It is therefore best to get an instrument cable with the lowest capacitance per foot which usually means to get a cable made with a high quality low ESR inducing dielectric. My favorite instrument cable is made by ACCUSOUND which uses a polypropylene dielectric which is far superior to the polyethylene used in some other manufacturers "high-end" cables. The difference between my 15 foot ACCUSOUND cable and my old Belden PVC based cables is night and day.

FWIW, here's a list of common dielectric plastics used in cables going from lowest grade to highest grade in terms of sound performance.

(1) PVC
(2) Polyethylene (i.e., Mylar)
(3) Polypropylene
(4) Teflon

If you are DIY making your own cables, some of these are unsuitable because the heat from the soldering iron will melt the dielectric and create a short to ground with the center conductor(s). This short can happen inside the cable and is impossible to correct. I have had store bought cables with intermittent shorts to ground.

Teflon is the best of both worlds but not cheap.

[jruberto]

I used to get Monsters for high-use gigging instrument cables because of the lifetime warranty which I used all the time. I definitely replaced all of them at least a few times. Once because one of them got soaked in beer & sat overnight. Brought it back to GC in a plastic bag, all sticky & beer-y. :-)

But then I realized even when they are new, they are pretty shoddy and really suck a lot of signal. I tested one of my trusty day-to-day monsters against a Mogami of the same length that I had just assembled and the signal sure got a lot stronger, and all the noise went away.

Their products are garbage. Just like their corporate ethics.

[firby]

I made guitar-like cables for a synthesizer out of mogami and some cheap radio shack ends. I did it for a beginning soldering project. I DO THINK that they sound a bit better than the cheapo molded cables that dominate the rest of my studio.

My opinion is don't skimp on the ends. When mine get pulled tight they crackle because the ends are cheap and too flexible. Use soundcraft or neutrik ends depending on whether neutrik will fit in the application. I believe that a good guitar-like cable should have 6 or 8 inches of good shrinkwrap on each end.

You can either make a good cable, or have one made or buy a good one. They do make a difference over the really cheap stuff. If you have a expensive/quality signal chain, I think you should use a nice cable. Monster may be a step ahead of the cheap stuff, but, you could get a better cable for the cash. See what a custom builder charges for a nice cable, guitar signals are much smaller than line level stuff like synths, so you will likely hear a little bit of difference.

[The Real MC]

Originally Posted by Frank_Case

Instrument cables are called high impedance cables because they carry high impedance source signals through them. And mic cables are called low impedance cables because they carry low impedance source signals. Under a high impedance signal situation, the capacitance of the cable is important in determining the cable's ability to convey a high impedance signal without loss of high frequency content. You are arguing semantics.

Dude, you're arguing with an EE with 30+ years experience in the biz.

Semantics has nothing to do with it. While you are correct about cable capacitance, under careful selection you can use the same cable for either low or high impedance sources. I have done it for decades. The radio industry has done it for decades. The satellite industry has done it for decades. The IT industry has done it for decades. The phone industry and power industry has done it for OVER A CENTURY. Source impedance has everything to do with application of cable, that is EE 101.

Anybody who tells you must use separate cables for low and high impedances is selling you snake oil.

And you are wrong when you say PVC, polyethylene, and polypropylene dielectrics are unsuitable for guitar cables. These dielectrics are used in almost all commercially available guitar cables. And only someone doing their soldering job wrong would melt the dielectric and short out their DIY cables. Sorry but you are doing something seriously wrong with you're soldering.

I have been repairing equipment and building cables for 30+ years and have a regulated temperature soldering iron amongst other sophisicated tools and test equipment on my bench. Of the hundreds of cables I have built the only failures have been worn plating on the connectors from heavy use or broken conductors in the middle of the cable. I have guitar cables going back to 1981 that are still going strong without a cable failure. Along the way I quickly found plastic-based cables were unsuitable because they melted under the iron no matter how quickly I removed the iron or minimized propogated heat with a heat clamp. I have seen too many commercially available guitar and mic cables fail and I bought enough of them to know. Besides soldering, there are other tricks to adding life to cables that are not found in OTS cables. So spare me your lectures on my cable building techniques that have served me well for decades.

[jruberto]

Originally Posted by The Real MC

Besides soldering, there are other tricks to adding life to cables that are not found in OTS cables.

Would be grateful if you would share! I've been making my own for a while now & am starting to do some work for friends. My process & techniques are still being formed & any hints around best practices would be appreciated. Cheers.

[The Real MC]

When you unwind the shield braid and twist it into a single wire, the wire is almost always larger than the center conductor(s). Thus during assembly I always leave some slack on the center conductor(s) inside the plug. When (not if!) the cable is pulled, the tension is on the larger (and stronger) ground wire which can withstand the tension much better than the smaller center conductor(s). This is a trick I have NEVER seen on store bought cables.

Use cables with copper stranded conductors only for fixed installation. Never use them for stage work. It doesn't take much flexing to break the weaker copper stranded conductors. If you are gigging or touring, be a professional and secure internal rack wires close to the jacks.

Try to avoid cables with spiral shields. As the cable flexes, the center insulator can separate the shield wires by force and that's how you get noise. Braided shields are better for stage cables but more work when assembling. For fixed installations always use foil shields, they are a lot easier to assemble and you get true 100% shielding but they're not as rugged as braided for stage cables.

DON'T cut cables to custom lengths - your system is always evolving! I established cable length conventions 1.5ft, 4ft, 6ft, 9ft, 15ft, 25ft. That has served me well as my system changes over the years.

ALWAYS test your cable with a continuity tester and the EBTech cable tester. I still do this despite my decades of experience making cables - there's ALWAYS one that gets by you (esp if you're making 96 patchbay cables!!!). The EBTech tester can test TS/TRS/RCA/XLR/MIDI and can catch intermittent shorts - while I am testing the cable I will flex the cable at the plugs and sometimes catch an intermittent short. What the EBTech tester will not catch is low impedance shorts (such as melted insulators inside the cable) - that's where the continuity tester fills the gap.

I like Belden 8410 for guitar, 8412 for mic or MIDI cables. Rubber or teflon insulation on the center conductor(s) are preferred. Canare makes a low profile cable made with teflon insulators that is REALLY easy to work with (esp if you're making internal rack cabling). Plastic non-teflon insulators melt too easy for DIY cables. They're very easy to differentiate to the naked eye - plastic always has a reflective glassy sheen.

Shrink tubing over the plug/cable adds nothing to strength. Every single store bought cable I used to own with shrink tubing is gone, they all broke. My friends lost them too. My DIY cables have no heat shrink tubing over the plug/cable because none of them break at the plug end (see tip #1). I used to inspect insulators of store bought cables to look for rubber vs plastic - you can't open the shell with shrink tubing over them. If I can't inspect it, I won't buy them.

After trying different makes of 1/4" plugs, I have stayed with Switchcraft for years. You get what you pay for! Beware that there are plugs made in asia that LOOK like Switchcrafts - I bought a pile and a fifth of them had the tip terminal too close to sleeve terminal and they shorted, making them useless. "made In China" was stamped on them.

I have had cheap 1/4" plugs literally come apart. If this happens on a speaker cable this is a Really Bad Problem!

The Switchcraft TRS plugs can be a PITA to solder cable to but they are the most rugged TRS plugs I have found. The TR terminals are easy to short to sleeve. The insulator between the sleeve and TR terminals is easy to melt - avoid touching it with the iron! I bend the sleeve terminal all the way down and force the insulator out of the way when I solder the wires to TR terminals - then let them cool - THEN I solder ground to sleeve - let that cool - THEN it is ready to assemble. A fan can accelerate the cooling process. I found that if I solder the sleeve wire as far as possible from the TR terminals I can minimize this problem. And when all wires are soldered, I bend the TR terminals inward so they are less likely to short to sleeve - I have found shorts where one of the terminals slipped past the insulator. TRS cables are the ones that give me the most grief and are why I always check assembled cables with the cable tester. And don't forget the insulator before you close up the shell on the plug! If you have a hard time screwing the shell to the plug, you risk having a terminal tear through the insulator and viola a short to ground. Cable tester!

Neutrik or Switchcraft XLRs are good and there are also asian look-alikes so beware. However I have found that not all XLRs are made equal - I found some Neutrik cable plugs will not always latch with Switchcraft plugs, so pick one and establish a convention. Chassis jacks - either Neutrik or Switchcraft are good, Neutrik has the edge in that the same punched hole will accept either gender.

I don't bother with gold plated connectors for XLR/TRS/TS/MIDI. The plating is extremely thin and it doesn't take many repeated insertions to wear off the plating!

If you have a large quantity of cables in an installation and you need to trace one of them, how do you sort them out without unplugging them? Mark them using color combinations of shrink tubing. Buy shrink tubing of different colors - red, green, blue, yellow, white - that will fit over the cable. Do not use tape, I learned early that it doesn't stay on the cable. Cut small pieces and use non-repeatable color combinations at each end of the cable to uniquely mark each cable (keep a list of combinations that are spoken for!). I established a convention whereas each tubing cut represents a 5ft or 1ft unit cable length IE a 25ft cable has five tubing cuts for the color combination. That way a quick glance at the color combination tells me whether I have a 15ft mic cable or 25 ft mic cable. I use 1/4" tubing cuts for cable > 9ft representing a 5ft unit cable length, and 1/8" cuts for cable < 9ft representing a 1ft unit cable length. That way a quick glance tells me I am looking at long vs short cable. Trust me as your studio grows you will be glad you marked them!

[jruberto]

Dude!

All excellent.

Any cable maker would do well to read all of this. Much thanks.

Love the last tip for labeling cables.

[Vic Damone]

Originally Posted by The Real MC

They are overhyped overpriced unreliable cables. These legal bullies are so overzealous in defending their "monster" trademark (forcing non-music businesses and websites to change their names) that people have refused to fund their legal warchest.

Overhyped, overpriced, unreliable? No more than any other boutique cable out there. What difference does it make as long as a cable has a lifetime guarantee, which I believe happens was a Monster Cable first.

A trademark is a trademark, it's the law. If it were yours would you give it up?

Javierj, If your happy with your Monster instrument cable thats all that matters, I started buying them when Monster began their lifetime guarantee and haven't needed to buy a cable since and I've returned many.

Today many less expensive cables now have a similar guarantee so they may not actually be worth the extra cost. There are many high quality instrument cables on the market, in my opinion most sound the same.

In the world of high end audio a highly resolving system can easily reveal sonic differences in speaker, interconnect, and power cables.

[TRJanuary]

Originally Posted by Vic Damone

A trademark is a trademark, it's the law. If it were yours would you give it up?

It's a word that every English-speaking human being uses in conversation by the age of 3. It's a sick modern corporate joke that they destroy tiny non-competing American businesses for using that word.

Originally Posted by Vic Damone

I started buying them when Monster began their lifetime guarantee and haven't needed to buy a cable since and I've returned many.

You might not be ABLE to use any other cable reliably with that equipment, since the 1/4" jacks have possibly been stretched over the years by Monster's oversized plugs.

[frans]

Originally Posted by Vic Damone

A trademark is a trademark, it's the law. If it were yours would you give it up?

The name as trademark is valid amongst the same group of products, say, if another audio company used "Monster", then they had a case. But Monster sent its attorneys to EVERYONE they could get hold of who used that word (toy companies, carnival mask manufacturers, etc.etc.) - do a search on the net. They wanted the sole right to that word and started an avalance of legal cases that cost many folks many dollars. This is - to keep the wording nice - of utmost idiocy and highly annoying. Nobody I know who took 10 minutes to have a look at what Monster cable did ever bought something from them again.

[TAVD]

Originally Posted by Vic Damone

I started buying them when Monster began their lifetime guarantee and haven't needed to buy a cable since and I've returned many.

[edwinhurwitz]

Originally Posted by Vic Damone

Overhyped, overpriced, unreliable? No more than any other boutique cable out there. What difference does it make as long as a cable has a lifetime guarantee, which I believe happens was a Monster Cable first.

I would say Monster is less reliable than other cables. Everyone I've met who uses Monster on a regular basis touts the lifetime warranty, but also admits that they use it pretty often. I make my own cables and provide my own lifetime warranty! But, it's been way more than a decade since I've had one of my cables fail. Someone I sold a mic cable to last year came up to me last night saying my cable had failed, so I gave him a replacement, but on bringing the cable home, it's in perfect condition. My cables cost way less than Monster, so in comparison, I would say that Monster cables are overhyped, overpriced and unreliable.

A trademark is a trademark, it's the law. If it were yours would you give it up?

Protecting a trademark is all well and good (although I would argue that defending a trademark outside of the scope of the field of your products is unreasonably aggressive. If Apple Computers sued someone for trademark violation for making Apple branded bicycles, it could easily argued that there would be no source confusion and that their trademark could not be reasonably extended to such products).

However, it's their patent and trade dress claims that I find more problematic. They try to claim an RCA connector as having secondary meaning with respect to their products (i.e., when anyone sees an RCA connector of any sort, they think immediately of Monster). See Blue Jeans Cable Strikes Back - Response to Monster Cable &mdash; Reviews and News from Audioholics.

It's hard to argue that this is standard behavior for any cable company, boutique or otherwise. Intellectual property is an important asset that is worth protecting and exploiting. However, the system is capable of being abused and claiming intellectual property that is in the public domain and suing parties who have significantly less legal resources on that basis is a serious abuse of the system. It's an effective way of controlling the competition and it's attractive business model, to live off of licensing fees rather than off the sale of your own products. I have to give Monster credit for not just living the life of a patent troll (For an interesting view of this phenomenon, see When Patents Attack! | This American Life).

Javierj, If your happy with your Monster instrument cable thats all that matters, I started buying them when Monster began their lifetime guarantee and haven't needed to buy a cable since and I've returned many.

That's awesome that it's worked out so well for you! However, I think it speaks to the unreliability of the cables that you have had to take them up on the warranty so frequently. While I would be happy not to have to spend cash on cables again, I would feel it necessary to make sure I have backups for every cable with a product that needs such a warranty more than once every dozen years. Regardless of whether you have to spend money on its replacement, a failed cable is a failed cable and I would rather have a reliable cable at a higher cost (although apparently it's at a much lower cost, which is a bonus!).

Today many less expensive cables now have a similar guarantee so they may not actually be worth the extra cost. There are many high quality instrument cables on the market, in my opinion most sound the same.

I gotta agree with this. It depends on the source, etc. but good quality copper is a great conductor and once the factors of capacitance, etc. are accounted for, all the rest is hype and marketing.

In the world of high end audio a highly resolving system can easily reveal sonic differences in speaker, interconnect, and power cables.

This is true to a greater and lesser degree, depending on which cable function is being discussed and the context. I would argue that power cables influence the signal less than interconnects, but that's beyond the scope of this discussion.

My personal inclination, if I were to spend big money on cables, would be to go with Cardas cable. Aside from hearing good sonic properties from his cable, George Cardas just has some cool ideas (Cardas Audio). But, in the meantime, Mogami and Neutrik raw materials work fine.

[Vic Damone]

Originally Posted by frans

The name as trademark is valid amongst the same group of products, say, if another audio company used "Monster", then they had a case. But Monster sent its attorneys to EVERYONE they could get hold of who used that word (toy companies, carnival mask manufacturers, etc.etc.) - do a search on the net. They wanted the sole right to that word and started an avalance of legal cases that cost many folks many dollars. This is - to keep the wording nice - of utmost idiocy and highly annoying. Nobody I know who took 10 minutes to have a look at what Monster cable did ever bought something from them again.

So essentially what your saying is that after following required Cease and Desist protocol Monster's right to further legally define their trademarked name using our Court system is somehow financially and/or morally hyaenas and that anybody purchasing Monster products are knowingly or unknowingly complicit in the view of you and your contemporaries?

Would Facebook Employment Agency fly?

[The Real MC]

Originally Posted by Vic Damone

So essentially what your saying is that after following required Cease and Desist protocol Monster's right to further legally define their trademarked name using our Court system is somehow financially and/or morally hyaenas and that anybody purchasing Monster products are knowingly or unknowingly complicit in the view of you and your contemporaries?

Would Facebook Employment Agency fly?

As the evidence proves that you first two posts are solely in this forum, it is highly probable that you are a monster cable fanboy. Watch your step

[S2udio]

Originally Posted by edwinhurwitz

I would argue that power cables influence the signal less than interconnects, but that's beyond the scope of this discussion.

I Agree with that 100%.......but not beyond the scope of the discussion,
Because its absolute Myth and BS.......Anyone believing a
$5000 gold plated silver cored power cable has any effect in giving better reproduction,of Their "High End" Audio system
Is away with the fairys and should be immediately sectioned !!

Originally Posted by The Real MC

As the evidence proves that you first two posts are solely in this forum, it is highly probable that you are a monster cable fanboy. Watch your step

Well said ........Looks like he's a @monster@ lawyer, probably gathering emails so we'll all be getting
Cease and Desist letters shortly !

[narcoman]

Monster cables? Junk. For some reason the youngsters seem to think they are a great brand....

[waveform:blue]

Originally Posted by S2udio

I Agree with that 100%.......but not beyond the scope of the discussion, Because its absolute Myth and BS.......Anyone believing a $5000 gold plated silver cored power cable has any effect in giving better reproduction, of Their "High End" Audio system Is away with the fairys and should be immediately sectioned !!

You should read the discussions of "audio grade" mains plugs and receptacles on some of the audiophile forums. Don't stay too long, or your brain will melt.

Among other things, these guys debate the audio characteristics of the insulation material in a mains receptacle. Low capacitance delivers the best performance. There are even a few who contend that the bloody wallplate material makes a difference. Anything magnetic is a sonic no-no.

Worst of all are the high-end "audiophile" manufacturers that peddle this bullshite. Cryogenically treated mains receptacles...puh-leeze!

Who would have thought that a low-capacitance, non-magnetic, audiophile receptacle and plug combination could counteract all the bad ju-ju from the house wiring, electric meter, street wiring, electrical substation, high-tension lines, various transformers, and the power plant ?

[edwinhurwitz]

Originally Posted by waveform:blue

You should read the discussions of "audio grade" mains plugs and receptacles on some of the audiophile forums. Don't stay too long, or your brain will melt.

Among other things, these guys debate the audio characteristics of the insulation material in a mains receptacle. Low capacitance delivers the best performance. There are even a few who contend that the bloody wallplate material makes a difference. Anything magnetic is a sonic no-no.

Worst of all are the high-end "audiophile" manufacturers that peddle this bullshite. Cryogenically treated mains receptacles...puh-leeze!

Who would have thought that a low-capacitance, non-magnetic, audiophile receptacle and plug combination could counteract all the bad ju-ju from the house wiring, electric meter, street wiring, electrical substation, high-tension lines, various transformers, and the power plant ?

No, no, no! It's all about the knobs!

The $500 Wooden Knob

[Vic Damone]

Originally Posted by The Real MC

As the evidence proves that you first two posts are solely in this forum, it is highly probable that you are a monster cable fanboy. Watch your step

Right (with a sarcastic tone of voice), frankly, I stumbled on to this site looking for some Hypex nCore amplifier information and thought I'd respond to the original posters question. Unfortunately, this is just another place with a few know it all ProFool schmucks sprinkled amoung some nice helpful people. I'm especially humored by the accusation and the following threat from the reel em cee for simply haveing a different opinion. Ya'mon, your way or the highway,eh.

I haven't any affiliation with Monster Cable other than purchasing his first offering of speaker cable back in the seventies and later an assortment of instrument cable which, as I said before, where the last instrument cables I've paid for. As a working Musician Monster's warrantee has made my job easier and saved me time and money. Does that make me a fanboy? Lets say it does, so what happens now...

[The Real MC]

A whopping total of three posts only in this forum and counting

[S2udio]

Originally Posted by Vic Damone

As a working Musician Monster's warrantee has made my job easier and saved me time and money.

You must trash a lot of Monsters cables then.
Learn to make your own...you know it makes sense.
For most its not rocket science .
But for some its Brain surgery......

[edwinhurwitz]

Originally Posted by Vic Damone

Right (with a sarcastic tone of voice), frankly, I stumbled on to this site looking for some Hypex nCore amplifier information and thought I'd respond to the original posters question. Unfortunately, this is just another place with a few know it all ProFool schmucks sprinkled amoung some nice helpful people. I'm especially humored by the accusation and the following threat from the reel em cee for simply haveing a different opinion. Ya'mon, your way or the highway,eh.

I haven't any affiliation with Monster Cable other than purchasing his first offering of speaker cable back in the seventies and later an assortment of instrument cable which, as I said before, where the last instrument cables I've paid for. As a working Musician Monster's warrantee has made my job easier and saved me time and money. Does that make me a fanboy? Lets say it does, so what happens now...

I don't think it makes you a fanboy or an employee of Monster. It just makes you someone who has decided that having a cable with the negative that it fails regularly is offset by the joy of getting a replacement for "free." What some of us know is that for the price you paid for that cable, we could have made 4 or 5 of them that all would still be working today and that repairing them would be essentially free (or at least, 10 minutes time) if they suffered a catastrophic injury. Thus, we question your judgment based on the fact that you are adamant that Monster is such a good deal. Given that Gearslutz is ostensibly a site of discussion for people who are either professional audio people or motivated amateurs, the idea that building your own cables is an overwhelmingly onerous task seems somewhat like the case of a person who is into cars, yet is too lazy to learn how to drive. As generalization we like to save money while getting a superior product and building your own cables with Mogami (or Canare or Cardas or whatever) cable with Neutrik connectors definitely falls into that category. However, this is a free country, so we support your freedom to continue to do what you do and to even crow about it, but we also support our freedom to comment on it.

As someone who has been a working musician for 25 years, with many years on the road, I would not tolerate a cable that has failed more than once. A dead cable on a gig is still a dead cable on a gig, regardless of how little I have to pay for its replacement. When my store bought cables like that go down, they go in the trash, Monster or not. Reliability trumps perceived economic freedom, especially when that perceived economic superiority goes to the far cheaper and more reliable cable and proves that freedom to be illusory. While you perceive your cable purchase to live on through multiple cables, my original cable purchases live on through the original cables themselves. But, carry on! Far be it from me to rain on your Monster parade.

[The Real MC]

When you are running a studio with dense cabling spaghetti, the last thing you want is a cable that fails in the middle of a session. You can replace the cable but you will never replace that precious moment of inspiration was lost. "Lifetime guarantee" indeed.

[S2udio]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

Monster = 60% legal, 30% advertizing and 10% wire.

10% wire would'nt pay the Leagal Beagles costs....
5% At most ..........and go with lightweight insulation.
You know it makes financial sense Jim.

[javierj]

Originally Posted by The Real MC

Wrong.

The impedance of the source is the dominant factor in high frequency roll-off.

Guitar pickups are high impedance thus the RC product of source impedance and the capacitance per foot rating of the cable limits cable length to 15 feet or less. Longer than that and the RC product forms a lowpass filter which loses high frequencies.

Microphones are almost 1/100 the impedance of guitar pickups. Put a mic on the same cable and you can run much longer length cables before RC product becomes a problem.

Instrument and mic cables are the same with the exception of number of conductors.



If you are DIY making your own cables, some of these are unsuitable because the heat from the soldering iron will melt the dielectric and create a short to ground with the center conductor(s). This short can happen inside the cable and is impossible to correct. I have had store bought cables with intermittent shorts to ground.

Teflon is the best of both worlds but not cheap.

Hello The Real MC,

I have a 1997 MIM Fender Strat, that comes with rosewood fretboard, Poplar wood body and polyfinish. I am going to install new pickups, Fender Tex Mex. The pickups specs show like this:

Bridge Pickup:
DC Resistance: 7.4K
Inductance: 3.7Henries
Middle Pickup:
DC Resistance: 6.4K
Inductance: 2.75Henries
Neck Pickup:
DC Resistance: 6.4K
Inductance: 2.75

In the reviews these pups are considered ''hot'', slight or just plain overwound and also bright and trebble-y (lot of highs/trebble), not to mention that there are also some guitar amps that are quite bright too (I have a Crate solid state, model GT212). Now the cable that I will settle for, is a 20ft Canare GS-6 with Neutrik plugs, one plug is right angle silent plug. This cable I got it for under $50 from a seller in Amazon, called ''Premium Audio Cables'', which according to the description, has been making cables for around 30 years, so just like someone mentioned about buying from someone that has good experience on making cable from quality bulk, for a better price than the manufacturer of the cable. Anyway, my thought is, so this Canare GS-6 cable has a Nom Cap of 49pF/ft, so it is higher than other cables that I have seen, that could explain why in other threads/forum some people say it is ''darker'' meaning it could be more prompt to roll off some high frequency in the signal, especially on passive pickups, like in the case of electric guitars with either or single coils or humbuckers. But if your set up (guitar-pedal board or just guitar-pedal-amp or guitar-amp, etc) is quite bright or lots of trebble, then it would be ideal to use a ''darker'' cable like the Canare GS-6 with nom capacitance of 49pF/ft, to balance the brightness / trebble of your set up ?

Thoughts welcome !